Ydessa hendeles biography

Canadian curator, art collector and philanthropist

Ydessa Hendeles is a Polish-Canadian artist-curator and philanthropist born in Germany.^[1] She is also the founding director of the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation in Toronto, Ontario.^[2]

Hendeles is an adjunct professor with the Department of Art History at the University of Toronto,^[3] where she has endowed the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation Distinguished Lecturer on Art series of presentations.^[4] In 2009, she donated 32 works of International and Canadian contemporary art to the Art Gallery of Ontario, the most significant single gift of contemporary art in the gallery’s history. The donation led the institution to cite her as one who “has brought a distinctive Canadian perspective to the world stage while setting a standard for art philanthropy. Ydessa hendeles art foundation.